What’s New in the iOS 11.3 Update and Should You Upgrade?
While version 11.2.6 fixed minor bugs related to crashes that could be triggered when viewing text in Indian characters, 11.3 introduces a laundry list of fixes, features, and improvements. A critical addition is a battery health feature, which lets users get a better understanding of how well their iOS device is performing. This was partly attributed to the backlash Apple received when it was discovered the company was slowing down older devices to compensate for battery life when new versions of iOS were released. Many users didn’t take too kindly to this unknown change and took the Cupertino behemoth to task for keeping it a secret. The company is being more transparent with iOS 11.3 by adding this feature, which provides more information about maximum capacity and peak performance. Note, though, that the feature is still in beta, and it’s not yet available for iPad. Apple is betting big on augmented reality, a new technology that immerses virtual content into the real world. iOS 11.3 introduces ARKit 1.5, which will let developers create more immersive content in their apps. The technology itself better understands environments, surfaces, and objects. More down to earth features include new animoji exclusive to the iPhone X. Four new characters include a lion, brown bear, green dragon, and skull. I played with animoji a bit, and they are fun for the first couple minutes, but it’s not as much a must-have as it might seem in the ads and on social media. It’s a good implementation of AR and Apple is building on it, even if it costs $1000 dollars to use it.
Business Chat, a new messaging feature the company previewed but never released is now available in 11.3. Users will be able to seek customer support from popular businesses such as Hilton, Wells Fargo, and Lowes. There are also further improvements to the Health app so users can easily access their health records through a supported provider. The promised iCloud Messages never made it into the final release even though it was available in the betas. It seems Apple is sticking to its internal promise to only release features when they are solid (except for the iPhone Battery Health feature…). There many more improvements to the system, which includes the App Store; users can now sort their reviews and there is better access to app details. The iOS 11.3 update comes in at 712 MBs on the iPhone (630 MBs on my iPad) and is available for devices such as the iPhone 5s and later, iPad Air and later, and iPod Touch 6th generation. Users can download the update by connecting to a wireless network, launching Settings > General > Software Update then tapping Download and install. Here is a list of additional bug fixes and security updates in iOS 11.3: Should you update to the new release? I took the plunge this evening just for you and updated several devices. So far, so good. My iPad Pro breezed through it quite quickly, completing in around 10 minutes, but my iPhone 6s is beginning to show its age a bit. The 2015 iPhone took around 20 minutes complete and there were a couple restarts along with some initial grogginess that subsided shortly after. That said, for such a large update, I was risking it by not backing up. I would recommend you backup before updating right away. Available for: iPhone 5s and later, iPad Air and later, and iPod touch 6th generation Impact: A person with physical access to an iOS device may be able to see the email address used for iTunes Description: An information disclosure issue existed in the handling of alarms and timers. This issue was addressed through improved access restrictions. CVE-2018-4123: Zaheen Hafzar M M (@zaheenhafzer) CoreFoundation Available for: iPhone 5s and later, iPad Air and later, and iPod touch 6th generation Impact: An application may be able to gain elevated privileges Description: A race condition was addressed with additional validation. CVE-2018-4155: Samuel Groß (@5aelo) CVE-2018-4158: Samuel Groß (@5aelo) CoreText Available for: iPhone 5s and later, iPad Air and later, and iPod touch 6th generation Impact: Processing a maliciously crafted string may lead to a denial of service Description: A denial of service issue was addressed through improved memory handling. CVE-2018-4142: Robin Leroy of Google Switzerland GmbH File System Events Available for: iPhone 5s and later, iPad Air and later, and iPod touch 6th generation Impact: An application may be able to gain elevated privileges Description: A race condition was addressed with additional validation. CVE-2018-4167: Samuel Groß (@5aelo) Files Widget Available for: iPhone 5s and later, iPad Air and later, and iPod touch 6th generation Impact: File Widget may display contents on a locked device Description: The File Widget was displaying cached data when in the locked state. This issue was addressed with improved state management. CVE-2018-4168: Brandon Moore Find My iPhone Available for: iPhone 5s and later, iPad Air and later, and iPod touch 6th generation Impact: A person with physical access to the device may be able to disable Find My iPhone without entering an iCloud password Description: A state management issue existed when restoring from a back up. This issue was addressed through improved state checking during restore. CVE-2018-4172: Viljami Vastamäki iCloud Drive Available for: iPhone 5s and later, iPad Air and later, and iPod touch 6th generation Impact: An application may be able to gain elevated privileges Description: A race condition was addressed with additional validation. CVE-2018-4151: Samuel Groß (@5aelo) Kernel Available for: iPhone 5s and later, iPad Air and later, and iPod touch 6th generation Impact: A malicious application may be able to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges Description: Multiple memory corruption issues were addressed with improved memory handling. CVE-2018-4150: an anonymous researcher Kernel Available for: iPhone 5s and later, iPad Air and later, and iPod touch 6th generation Impact: An application may be able to read restricted memory Description: A validation issue was addressed with improved input sanitization. CVE-2018-4104: The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) Kernel Available for: iPhone 5s and later, iPad Air and later, and iPod touch 6th generation Impact: An application may be able to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges Description: A memory corruption issue was addressed with improved memory handling. CVE-2018-4143: derrek (@derrekr6) Mail Available for: iPhone 5s and later, iPad Air and later, and iPod touch 6th generation Impact: An attacker in a privileged network position may be able to intercept the contents of S/MIME-encrypted e-mail Description: An inconsistent user interface issue was addressed with improved state management. CVE-2018-4174: an anonymous researcher, an anonymous researcher NSURLSession Available for: iPhone 5s and later, iPad Air and later, and iPod touch 6th generation Impact: An application may be able to gain elevated privileges Description: A race condition was addressed with additional validation. CVE-2018-4166: Samuel Groß (@5aelo) PluginKit Available for: iPhone 5s and later, iPad Air and later, and iPod touch 6th generation Impact: An application may be able to gain elevated privileges Description: A race condition was addressed with additional validation. CVE-2018-4156: Samuel Groß (@5aelo) Quick Look Available for: iPhone 5s and later, iPad Air and later, and iPod touch 6th generation Impact: An application may be able to gain elevated privileges Description: A race condition was addressed with additional validation. CVE-2018-4157: Samuel Groß (@5aelo) Safari Available for: iPhone 5s and later, iPad Air and later, and iPod touch 6th generation Impact: Visiting a malicious website by clicking a link may lead to user interface spoofing Description: An inconsistent user interface issue was addressed with improved state management. CVE-2018-4134: xisigr of Tencent’s Xuanwu Lab (tencent.com), Zhiyang Zeng (@Wester) of Tencent Security Platform Department Safari Login AutoFill Available for: iPhone 5s and later, iPad Air and later, and iPod touch 6th generation Impact: A malicious website may be able to exfiltrate autofilled data in Safari without explicit user interaction. Description: Safari autofill did not require explicit user interaction before taking place. The issue was addressed through improved autofill heuristics. CVE-2018-4137 SafariViewController Available for: iPhone 5s and later, iPad Air and later, and iPod touch 6th generation Impact: Visiting a malicious website may lead to user interface spoofing Description: A state management issue was addressed by disabling text input until the destination page loads. CVE-2018-4149: Abhinash Jain (@abhinashjain) Security Available for: iPhone 5s and later, iPad Air and later, and iPod touch 6th generation Impact: A malicious application may be able to elevate privileges Description: A buffer overflow was addressed with improved size validation. CVE-2018-4144: Abraham Masri (@cheesecakeufo) Storage Available for: iPhone 5s and later, iPad Air and later, and iPod touch 6th generation Impact: An application may be able to gain elevated privileges Description: A race condition was addressed with additional validation. CVE-2018-4154: Samuel Groß (@5aelo) System Preferences Available for: iPhone 5s and later, iPad Air and later, and iPod touch 6th generation Impact: A configuration profile may incorrectly remain in effect after removal Description: An issue existed in CFPreferences. This issue was addressed through improved preferences cleanup. CVE-2018-4115: Johann Thalakada, Vladimir Zubkov, and Matt Vlasach of Wandera Telephony Available for: iPhone 5s and later, iPad Air and later, and iPod touch 6th generation Impact: A remote attacker can cause a device to unexpectedly restart Description: A null pointer dereference issue existed when handling Class 0 SMS messages. This issue was addressed through improved message validation. CVE-2018-4140: @mjonsson, Arjan van der Oest of Voiceworks BV Web App Available for: iPhone 5s and later, iPad Air and later, and iPod touch 6th generation Impact: Cookies may unexpectedly persist in web app Description: A cookie management issue was addressed through improved state management. CVE-2018-4110: Ben Compton and Jason Colley of Cerner Corporation WebKit Available for: iPhone 5s and later, iPad Air and later, and iPod touch 6th generation Impact: Processing maliciously crafted web content may lead to arbitrary code execution Description: Multiple memory corruption issues were addressed with improved memory handling. CVE-2018-4101: Yuan Deng of Ant-financial Light-Year Security Lab CVE-2018-4114: found by OSS-Fuzz CVE-2018-4118: Jun Kokatsu (@shhnjk) CVE-2018-4119: an anonymous researcher working with Trend Micro’s Zero Day Initiative CVE-2018-4120: Hanming Zhang (@4shitak4) of Qihoo 360 Vulcan Team CVE-2018-4121: Natalie Silvanovich of Google Project Zero CVE-2018-4122: WanderingGlitch of Trend Micro’s Zero Day Initiative CVE-2018-4125: WanderingGlitch of Trend Micro’s Zero Day Initiative CVE-2018-4127: an anonymous researcher working with Trend Micro’s Zero Day Initiative CVE-2018-4128: Zach Markley CVE-2018-4129: likemeng of Baidu Security Lab working with Trend Micro’s Zero Day Initiative CVE-2018-4130: Omair working with Trend Micro’s Zero Day Initiative CVE-2018-4161: WanderingGlitch of Trend Micro’s Zero Day Initiative CVE-2018-4162: WanderingGlitch of Trend Micro’s Zero Day Initiative CVE-2018-4163: WanderingGlitch of Trend Micro’s Zero Day Initiative CVE-2018-4165: Hanming Zhang (@4shitak4) of Qihoo 360 Vulcan Team WebKit Available for: iPhone 5s and later, iPad Air and later, and iPod touch 6th generation Impact: Unexpected interaction with indexing types causing an ASSERT failure Description: An array indexing issue existed in the handling of a function in javascript core. This issue was addressed through improved checks CVE-2018-4113: found by OSS-Fuzz WebKit Available for: iPhone 5s and later, iPad Air and later, and iPod touch 6th generation Impact: Processing maliciously crafted web content may lead to a denial of service Description: A memory corruption issue was addressed through improved input validation CVE-2018-4146: found by OSS-Fuzz WebKit Available for: iPhone 5s and later, iPad Air and later, and iPod touch 6th generation Impact: A malicious website may exfiltrate data cross-origin Description: A cross-origin issue existed with the fetch API. This was addressed through improved input validation. CVE-2018-4117: an anonymous researcher, an anonymous researcher WindowServer Available for: iPhone 5s and later, iPad Air and later, and iPod touch 6th generation Impact: An unprivileged application may be able to log keystrokes entered into other applications even when secure input mode is enabled Description: By scanning key states, an unprivileged application could log keystrokes entered into other applications even when secure input mode was enabled. This issue was addressed by improved state management. CVE-2018-4131: Andreas Hegenberg of folivora.AI GmbH Source I am using a new iPad Pro with a A10x Fusion processor, so updates like this are nothing for it to handle. Let us know how it works out for you, especially on the older iPads and iPhones. Comment Name * Email *
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